Sorry for the wait! I've been working on Fire and Flames, ym other story. Anywho, hope you like this chapter :)

Chapter Twenty-three

Spottedpaw touched her nose to Icestorm's cold, stiff fur one more time, then backed away to let others have their turn, blinking away tears and sniffing. Crowflight joined her, pressing his side against hers, and buried his head in her shoulder, shaking. Spottedpaw licked the top of his head comfortingly, taking her mind off things by comforting him.

"Why don't you go get some rest?" she whispered. "You look beat. Who knows, it might make you feel better."

Crowflight stood still for a heartbeat, then lifted his head, his normally sleek smoky fur dull and dirty and his eyes bright with sadness. "Okay," he agreed tiredly, then hesitated. "Wait with me?"

Her paws itched to find Bane, but Crowflight looked like he'd topple over any second; it wouldn't take much time for him to fall asleep and it would give her time to plan, anyways. Spottedpaw purred, rubbing her head against his shoulder, and followed him into the warriors' den. She couldn't sleep there, being an apprentice still and all, but she could wait with Crowflight until he fell asleep.

And sure enough, within a minute or so his breathing went gentle and deep and his eyes stayed closed. Spottedpaw licked his head one more time, then carefully got to her paws from where she'd been curled up next to his nest, making sure not to brush up against any crackly bracken or step on anyone's tail, and edged silently out of the den. The moon was on the wane, not as bright as before, but dawn was still a ways off – good, because no one ought to realize she was missing until morning. She walked casually towards the secret exit behind the nursery – sneaking tended to draw more attention than it stopped – and carefully inched her way up the ravine, making sure no pebbles skidded down. Every second she expected to hear yowls from camp asking where she was going – now that Icestorm had died, they'd be posting even more guards than they already were – but mournful wails and whispers were the only noises in the quietness.

Once she'd made her way to the top, she paused and went over the mental list she'd thought up while waiting for Crowflight to sleep. StarClan might help her find him, but narrowing down where Bane might be could only help, she figured.

Okay: he seemed to be targeting ThunderClan more than others - he'd murdered four ThunderClan warriors, and she hadn't heard of any other Clan with a death toll that high, which most likely meant he was on ThunderClan territory. He probably didn't want to be found, either (duh), so where was a place not many cats went on ThunderClan territory?

There was near the Thunderpath; there wasn't really a need to patrol that border as much since cats only crossed it when they absolutely had no other choice, and who likes roaring, fast-as-lightening monsters screaming past very few seconds? Plus, there was the stench – try finding someone next to a reeking, hot, bitter smell that covers up everything else. But something didn't seem right – there weren't a lot of places to hide near the Thunderpath, and prey stayed away, so he'd have to venture out to catch some, which meant his scent should've been found. He probably didn't like the monsters or the smell, either, so the Thunderpath was pretty much out.

Then there was Snakerocks. No cat liked to go there, with adders prowling around, and there were plenty of hidey-holes. Prey tended to stay away from there, too, but not too far away, so food was easy to get. Snakerocks was in the middle of the forest, so he'd have good access to ThunderClan's camp, too…

Spottedpaw thought of several more possible places and growled to herself. Bane could be anywhere!

Eventually, she decided that she'd start in the middle of the territory and work her way outward. She rolled in a convenient patch of nearby mushrooms to disguise her scent, then padded quickly but quietly into the forest. Her heart raced with the thought of being so close to ending it all, but underneath it all was fear – what would he be like? What if he did manage to kill her, despite the prophecy? She was only an apprentice, and StarClan couldn't directly intervene…

Only one way to find out.

She didn't feel much like a hero.

Spottedpaw circled her way outward from the middle of ThunderClan territory, carefully but quickly inspecting each possible hiding place.

She came to Snakerocks next. Spottedpaw crouched in a clump of ferns, ears pricked and fur tingling, peering out at the moon-bleached mass of boulders. Thankfully, since it was night, the snakes should be asleep, she comforted herself. One less thing to worry about. Her pink nostrils flared, trying to catch Bane's smell; nothing, but he might have buried his scent by rolling in mushrooms, too.

Spottedpaw braced herself, cautiously reached out a paw, and leaned forward, ready to pad into the clearing, not wanting to be surprised.

When nothing happened as her paw poked into the clearing, Spottedpaw edged completely out of cover, shuddering as the protective forest shadows gave way to brightness. She felt glaringly exposed as she took another step towards the boulders, but she needed to make sure he wasn't sleeping in any of the gaps in the rocks.

Suddenly a dark blur streaked out of a pitch-black hole near the top of the boulder-pile. Spottedpaw froze as amber eyes glowed, flashing straight in her direction. Muscles rippled under a dark brown tabby coat turned pale in the moonlight.

Bane let out a rumbling laugh that sent a chill down Spottedpaw's spine. "Well, well, well," he drawled. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting to be found. Although, I will say it, those last few deaths were sloppily taken care of – my fault, of course. Somecat always seemed to come along right as I was about to dispose of the body." His nose sniffed the air. "Your smell…Now that I think about it, that was you, wasn't it?"

Spottedpaw lifted her chin, glaring at him defiantly. Now that she'd finally found him, her fear was buried under a nice hard layer of rock-hard determination. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, chasing away her sleepiness and the tiredness in her paws. "And now I've finally caught you," she growled.

Bane didn't seem to take her seriously at all. He laughed again. "Took you long enough, didn't it?" He lay down, curling his tail neatly over his paws. "I'm disappointed," he remarked casually with the air of someone commenting on the weather. "Out of all their finest warriors, a scrawny half-grown female is sent to bring me to justice?" He said the last four words sarcastically.

Spottedpaw's blood boiled, but she forced herself to take some deep breaths and calm down. That's what he wants, she thought to herself. For me to come charging up there. He could strike her down without even breaking a sweat if she raced up to confront him, since he had the higher ground.

"You did make it hard to follow you," she admitted, trying to keep him talking while she figured out an attack plan.

Bane proudly lifted his head. "I think Toadfoot and Briarthorn were my best," he reflected. Spottedpaw's fur crawled to hear him speak of killing someone that casually. Then she remembered something.

"Wait a second. You didn't kill Toadfoot - he died when the branch he was one broke, and Briarthorn's death was blamed on ThunderClan!" she protested.

Bane sneered. "That's what I wanted you to think, isn't it?"

Spottedpaw realized with dawning horror just how carefully Bane had planed everything.

"It was so amusing to watch you Clan cats squabble over who killed that RiverClan cat. Of course, I was hoping for a full-fledged battle, but you can't have everything."

"You monster!" she spat. "Toadfoot was a medicine cat!"

"That just made it all the more interesting," Bane yawned. "The ShadowClan tom, he was so surprised someone would dare attack one of your precious healers that he toppled off the branch himself and broke his leg. I simply put him out of his misery. And fabricating evidence was just too much fun."

"You are the most pathetic excuse for a cat I've ever met," Spottedpaw hissed. "How can you live with yourself? Briarthorn had kits!"

"A queen for a queen! Have you ever thought it was you and your precious Clans who brought the deaths on yourselves?" Bane snarled, his fur bristling. Spottedpaw jumped at his sudden change in mood. "You and your oh-so-noble friends killed my mate and kits!" he suddenly screamed. "My Sky!" His claws scored the stone underneath him, the rock squealing out in what sounded like mortal agony.

"We did no such thing," Spottedpaw argued, her blood cold, not wanting to believe him. "No warrior kills unless they must!"

"They killed her as much as they would have if they'd struck the killing blow! When our kits were born, we were stuck in the middle of ShadowClan territory. They found me first and drove me out, and when I tried to get back to my Sky, they beat me so badly I was stuck healing for two weeks! And then they found my Sky, and with kits not more than a half a moon old threw her out! I found her, but I couldn't protect her or hunt for her or anything, because I was in too much pain and still mending. We managed to make it to WindClan next, but the same thing happened, and the same thing with RiverClan, too! Then, weak, exhausted, starving, only one kit still alive, we came to ThunderClan, and what do you think happened? We were thrown out again! My Sky died a horrible, agonizing death just hours after my only kit still alive passed! You and your Clans killed her, and my kits! So," he ranted, teeth bared. "I decided I'd make each of your Clans suffer the pain I feel, ten times worse! I'd destroy your families the way you destroyed mine!"

Spottedpaw was frozen in place. No, no, no…Her Clan had killed those kits, indirectly, but they'd killed them! Spottedpaw felt betrayed – she wasn't Clanborn, but she loved her Clan like any purebred warrior.

Or at least, she had. Why hadn't ThunderClan or any other Clan at least given them food? Why hadn't they helped them?

Bane's chest was heaving, his eyes bright and frenzied. "You didn't think it was possible, that your Clans could do anything bad, did you?" he choked out a laugh that sounded more like a sob. "No, no, no! You thought the Clans were righteous and holy and could never do anything wrong!" He bared his teeth in a vicious smile. "Well, you thought wrong!"

"You're crazy!" Spottedpaw whispered, shaking. What was she supposed to do now? Everything she thought she'd known was turned on its head. At the very least, why hadn't StarClan told her that it was their fault Bane was murdering cats? Why hadn't they told her the whole story? Her heart felt like it had been shredded, then grinded into the dirt.

She was supposed to save the Clans form something they'd created, and nobody had thought she ought to know the truth?

Bane shrugged. "Maybe I am crazy, maybe I'm not," he mocked. He'd stopped making that horrible strangled laugh, but his mad eyes were amused and satisfied, like he knew how confused and betrayed she felt and thought it funny.

Spottedpaw's head was still reeling, and she tried frantically to gather her thoughts. Ignore his story, think about that later!

She had to get him to come down to her!

"If I'm such a scrawny half-grown weakling, then why don't you come here and prove it?" she challenged, lashing her tail and lifting her chin. "Too scared?"

There. It was childish and obvious, but no self-respecting tom could resist a challenge, especially one given by a she-cat.

Bane got to his paws. Spottedpaw narrowed her eyes in anticipation, all thoughts of Bane's story shoved to the back of her mind and focused on what she needed to do. Her claws slid out.

"Too scared?" Bane spat, hackles bristling. "I've killed more cats than you have paws! And you'll join that list soon enough!"

And then he sprang.

Mwahahahahaha! Cliffhanger! Sorry, I couldn't resist :) The next chapter ought to be up tomorrow! Only a few more left, and the story's finished...

Review, please!